


Save Money, Live Better

by superfly19



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Pining, Underage Drinking, Walmart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-06-03 04:36:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6596890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superfly19/pseuds/superfly19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How hard could this job be?  All he had to do was cut meat and cheese for customers, and drop baskets of frozen chicken into fryers.  This is gonna be a piece of cake.  That is, until a messy haired freshmen walks in and completely screws everything up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this forever and I don't really have a beta. Besides my roommate who is also currently writing a fic! I'll link hers on here too. This is an AU where they live in America...I feel like that's important to mention.
> 
> My roomies fic: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6590968/chapters/15077782

Working at a job that is in no way in your field of interest is hard.  It’s even harder when you’re a drama major working at WalMart.  Don’t get it twisted, you will meet some interesting people, and maybe even make some best friends along the way, and you will definitely never be bored.  Louis found that out quite quickly when he eagerly accepted the Deli Associate position at WalMart his sophomore year.  It’s the highest paying position in WalMart that isn’t management, and he needed some extra cash.  He finally got out of the campus housing, and was ready to make some of his own money.  He was free most nights and weekends, which meant he got hired to be a closer.

The first couple months are hard as a closer at his friendly neighborhood WalMart.  All of your shifts are closing shifts until you can do every aspect of a Deli Close forwards, backwards and in Latin.  Which means Louis closed 5 days a week, non-stop for 3 and a half months.  He quickly figured out his own closing schedule, which he was told would happen.

“We basically show you the correct way to do it, then you figure out your own way to do it faster.  Everyone has their own way of closing the Deli.”  His trainer, Sam, said.  “As long as we pass corporate and Regional inspection, no one really cares.  We have 4 main rules here: clean up after yourself, no oil on the floor, don’t call in on a closing shift, and for the love of god, put the birds in the oven on time.”  He continued to explain.  Louis nodded slowly, not wanting to seem too eager.  How hard could this job be?  All he had to do was cut meat and cheese for customers, and drop baskets of frozen chicken into fryers.  This is gonna be a piece of cake.

\--

Louis was wrong, Louis was horribly, horribly wrong.  This job was stressful as hell.  No matter how fast he cuts meat and cheese, it seems like the customer line never ends.  He has stacks of turkey and ham all over the tables, as he was unable to find the time to wrap them and put them back in their respected cooler.

“Louis, dude, I’m telling you.  Just make the customer wait for the 2 seconds it takes for you to wrap the meat and cheese.  They’ll be more pissed if you cut their Muenster Cheese off a brick that has been sitting out for 20 minutes.  Trust. Me.”  Deli Veteran, James, explained.  Louis nodded, trying to keep his head down.  The first couple weeks on the job have been nothing but embarrassing.  Dropping food, slipping on wet floors, dropping pans, and not being able to find products.  He’s decided to keep his mouth shut, and just learn this position.  He can make friends with his fellow associates when he is worthy of talking to them.  These guys are so good at this job it’s ridiculous, they talk and laugh as they drop food in the fryer, hardly look at the slicers as they’re cutting meat and cheese, and close the Deli like it’s a piece of cake.  Right now, Louis just feels like he’s dragging all of them down.

As his first 90 days ends, Louis feels like a pretty efficient closer.  He’s been left to his own devices multiple times, and still manages to get down with the front of the Deli on time.  His floors are so clean that management is shocked when they come in for the opening shifts.  They pass inspections with flying colors, finally, Louis’ OCD is going to good use.  He’s mastering the cold side like a super hero, being able to handle large crowds of customers with grace, poise, and small amounts of resting bitch face.  The day he has been fearing, has finally come around though.  After three months of memorizing product numbers, how many slices of meat/cheese makes a pound and which windows contain which food, Sam throws him through a loop.

“Alright Louis, so it’s time you learn hot side.”  He says, a devilish grin on his face.

“What?  Why?  I’m killing it over here!”  Louis says, frowning.

“And that’s great, cold side is the easy side.  We need more man power on the hot side.  The Deli is slowly being overrun by old ladies that don’t like sweating.  Which means all the men work on this side.  I need you to man up.”  Sam said, walking over and grabbing Louis’ wrist and dragging him to the hotside.  He starts explaining how the fryers and ovens work.  He explains how long all the food can sit in the hotcase until it has to be switched out with fresh product.  “Honestly, the hardest part is hotcase up front.”  Sam sighs, as he shakes the basket full of chicken wings in the fryer.  “It’s just a pain in the ass.” 

“Hotcase up front?  What does that even mean?”  Louis questions, is there another Deli in the WalMart?

“Yea, it’s a case up by the registers, so people smell our food when they come in.  Works really well in the winter months.  It’s annoying because we have to bring fresh product up every two hours.  We have to take snack containers of all our chicken, Rotisserie Chickens, 8 Piece Chicken, cups, corndogs and egg rolls.”  Sam lists off while checking his food time sheet.

“We have egg rolls?  Why do we take cups up there?  Why are we taking so much chicken up?”  Louis questions, peering into the hotcase for the first time, studying its contents.

“We have Barbeque chicken, General Tso’s chicken, chicken strips, wingdings, hot wings and popcorn chicken.”  Sam lists.  “The popcorn chicken and popcorn shrimp have little cups, which we take up front” He explains, showing Louis the cups that say POPCORN CHICKEN and POPCORN SHRIMP on them.  “The Rotisserie Chickens go in this oven here.”  He says, gesturing to the giant oven behind him.  “It cooks them for an hour and 15 minutes, but we usually have to let them cook for 20 or so more minutes for the big birds to reach temp.”  He says, pointing at the slightly larger chickens on the rotating racks.  “There’s traditional, lemon pepper and buttery garlic chicken.  The big ones are buttery garlic, the ones with the green strings are traditional, yellow is lemon pepper” He says, pointing to the strings around the chickens legs.

“Jesus.”  Louis said, he realized he was sweating a lot.  He’s not sure if it’s because hotside is actually hot, or if he was just nervous.

“No worries man, you’ll get the hang of it in no time.  You don’t really have a choice, it’s really fast paced on this side.”  Sam said as 4 beepers go off at once.  “Here we go man, strap up.  Change your gloves, you’re about to get your world rocked.”  Sam said, grinning as he hit a ton of buttons, ripped his gloves off, put on new ones and started pulling fryer baskets so fast and Louis hadn’t even gotten his gloves off yet.

\--

Sam was right, Louis got the hang of hotside pretty fast.  It’s all about timing on this side, which makes the day go by faster, plus he no longer has to make back stock of sandwiches, salads, pinwheels or wraps.  He’s a happy camper.  Hotside is the boys club of the Deli.  They all bro out, cook food, sneak off to the back to eat freshly cooked chicken, and come up with codes for customers.

“Hey uh, Louis, have you seen the Mashed Potatoes?”  James asked, as he’s helping a customer on cold side.  Louis smirks.  When they ask anything Mashed Potatoes ever, that means one of two things. First, it means that Louis needed to take a look around, because there was an attractive person in their presence.  The only other meaning it has, is that a customer is shamelessly flirting, and they need help getting away.  Louis looks up and sees a girl talking to James, he furrows his brows and looks to James who is definitely looking distressed.  It’s option number 2.

“Actually bro, I really need some help over here, you know that the box for 8 piece chicken is as big as I am.  I also am convinced it weighs more than me.”  Louis says quickly, James smiles.

“I got you bro.  Sorry m’lady, but duty calls!”  He says, running to the back of the deli to get in their freezer.  He brings out the giant box of chicken as slams it on the counter.  “You’re a life saver, Louis.  That chicken bit was genius.”  James says, laughing as he starts dropping chicken in the fryer slowly.

“I wish I was joking, but I seriously can’t carry that.”  Louis says helping James.

“We know, we just like to watch you struggle.”  James says as he hits the timer.

“You’re an ass, I hate you.”  Louis says, taking the box to the back to break it down.

\--

That’s how life goes for a while.  Louis is working upwards of 30 hours a week while being in school full time.  It’s a little rough, but since he isn’t old enough to go out, he might as well make some money.  Plus, some of his closest friends are at the Deli.  He’s at his 9 month mark where things start to go horribly wrong.

“Louis, don’t freak out.  You know I’ve wanted to do this forever, I’ve talked about it since you started here!”  James exclaimed, Louis was still pouting.  James had finally got accepted into the air force, and was heading to basic in 2 weeks.  Louis is not happy about it.

“James.  You showed me your ways back here.  You made me great.  You make this place fun to work!”  Louis says as he is getting food ready to take to the hotcase up front.

“And you are better than I ever was at 9 months.  Seriously, you’ll be fine.  Plus Sam is still here!  You aren’t going to be here forever bud.  We all have to leave eventually.”  James said, smiling.  They drop the subject until his last day.  It was hard for everyone to say goodbye to James.  Sam, Louis and James decide to have a big party that night to see James off.

“We’re gonna miss you man, the Deli will not be the same without you.”  Sam said, as they all lay on the floor of Louis’ apartment.

“It’s true.  They could never find someone to replace you.  In the Deli, or in my heart.”  Louis said, his hand clutching his chest.

“Your stupid drama classes.  I swear.”  James said.  That night they all just laid on Louis’ floor and soaked up each other’s company.  Louis is fully aware this is probably the last time he’ll ever see James, it’s one of the things he’s had time to accept over the past two weeks.

\--

Louis shows up to work at 11AM on a Sunday, he’s been shocked it has been on his schedule for the past 3 weeks, and he’s still not over it.  He doesn’t have to close, and it’s a weekend?  He gets to get off work before 11PM?  It’s like Christmas.

“Louis, perfect.  You’re finally here.”  His department manager, Zayn, said.  “Look, you and I both know I hate training new people, which is why I didn’t speak to you for your first 2 months here.  Trainees are worthless, and if I talk to them, they will quit within a week.  Fucking Niall hired some freshmen to take James’ spot, and I need you to train him.  If I do it, I’m going to shave his head.”  Zayn said, putting together sandwiches.  This is what Zayn does to avoid conflict, he makes back stock. 

“Fine, hotside or coldside?”  Louis sighs, pulling on an apron.

“He got here an hour ago and has been tripping all over himself on cold side.  I swear this kid has two left feet.  Niall wants me to die, that’s what he wants.”  Zayn says, aggressively slapping cheese onto the sandwiches.  “I think there’s just too much room on the cold side ya know?  Take him to the hotside and train him over there.  There’s less space, and less time to stand around.  Maybe he’ll be useful there.  If not, I’ll have him start closing.  We are gonna have to find what he’s good at.  I already told Niall you’re his designated trainer.”  He explains. 

“Why am I his trainer?”  Louis asked, securing his hat and nametag.

“Well you can work hot side, cold side and close.  He’s a college kid, he needs to be trained in all those areas.”  Zayn says, shrugging.

“Fine.  What’s his name anyway?”  Louis asks.

“Harry.  Harry Styles.” 

\--

Louis walks out of the back of the Deli, kicking the door open to witness a warzone.  There is meat and cheese everywhere, all the timers are going off on the hotside, and in the middle of this mess, is a very terrified looking boy with a hairnet on.

“Jesus.”  Louis says, fast walking to the hotside and turning off timers.  He’s pulling baskets out of the fryers, shaking his head when he realizes everything is burnt.  Once he’s got the food thrown away, he turns towards the coldside.  The boy, who he assumes is Harry, is still standing frozen.  “Are you okay?  What happened?”  Louis asked, walking over and starting to wrap the discarded meat and cheese.

“I have no idea.”  The kid answers.  “This woman came up and asked for like 13 different things, then walked away.  I got really confused on which meats she wanted cut how, and how much of each thing she wanted, so I just started cutting stuff like crazy.  Then Zayn was on hotside, but he disappeared, and then all these timers went off, then the meat lady yelled at me because I got her order wrong, and then you walked in and started making all the beeping stop, and now here we are.”  He explains.

“Okay, well let’s start cleaning up, shall we?  I’m Louis, by the way.”  Louis says, continuing to wrap and label the mess.

“I’m Harry, it’s my first day, and I don’t think I’m cut out for the Deli Life.”  He sighs, looking defeated.

“Aw c’mon now, don’t say that.  We all feel that way on our first day.  It’s overwhelming, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never be bored, I promise.  Besides, I’m your trainer for the day, so you’re going to be the best soon.”  Louis said, grinning as Harry’s mess is slowly cleaned up.  “Seriously, ask questions anytime you get lost or confused.  It’s hard to remember which window you got the meat and cheese from, and I’d rather you ask for help then put stuff in the wrong place okay?  All the numbers you need are here under the scales, so you can get everything priced right.”  Louis explains, showing Harry the lists taped to the inside of the windows.

“Zayn kinda showed me that when I got here.  He seemed irritated though.”  Harry said, studying the list.

“He doesn’t do well with new people.  He didn’t talk to me for 2 months when I first started.”  Louis said, shrugging.  “Where’s everyone else at?  Why are you alone up here?”  Louis asked, Harry shrugged again. 

“Well there was this guy out here for a while, he has a lot of tattoos.  I didn’t catch his name…” Harry started, Louis heart stopped beating.  He’s talking about Tanner.  As in, super-hot, super amazing, worked at the deli for 7 years, Tanner. 

“Oh, that sounds like Tanner.  Where did he go?”  Louis asked, getting excited.  Fuck training this new kid, Tanner is here!

“Like I said, I have no idea.”  Harry said, turning to face Louis as Tanner emerges from the side door of the Deli.

“Sorry kid, had to get the birds.  Louis is a fucking bitch about rotisserie…OH! Louis you’re here!”  Tanner said, smiling.

“Hey Tanner…”  Louis said, quietly, trying not to blush.  Harry’s eyes flicked between them.

“I think Louis is training me today.  Right?”  Harry asked, Louis nodded.

“Yea, Zayn wants him on hotside today, so I guess you’re on coldside man, sorry.”  Louis said, now looking at the floor.

“That’s fine, I’ll help Zayn aggressively make back stock.  Louis’ one of the best on hotside, really soak in everything he tells you.” Tanner says, winking at Harry.  Harry nods enthusiastically and looks at Louis.

“You’re really the best?  I thought you were kidding!”  Harry says, seeming excited.

“No, Tanner is the best.  He’s just happy he doesn’t have to train you.”  Louis said, rolling his eyes as he makes his way back to the hotside.  “Let me explain some stuff to you about the hotside, dear Harold.”

“M’names not Harold.” Harry says.

“Not important, you have a name tag.  These glorious vats of hot liquid are our fryers.  Please do not stick your hands or any other body part in here okay?  In these seemingly bottomless pits is where we cook all the food that goes in there.”  Louis said, pointing towards the hot case.  “Everything has a designated timer, which was all the beeping you heard earlier.  Zayn set timers for food, then forgot about them.  So they all got burnt, which means we get to recook everything.”  Louis said.  “So follow me to the freezer.”

“Freezer?”  Harry asked, as he trailed behind Louis as he walked into the backroom again.

“Zayn.”  Louis says, greeting Zayn as he eyes the large pile of back stock Zayn has made in such a short time.  “You okay man?  You’re making all our back stock in record time.”  Louis teases as he opens the fridge door.

“Just do your job Tomlinson.”  Zayn says, ripping lettuce apart like it broke his heart.

“Okay so the freezer is actually in the fridge, see?”  Louis said, gesturing to the door in the walk-in fridge.  He opens it to a very small room where there are three sets of shelves with boxes piled everywhere.  “You will learn to memorize where everything is, but I’ll give you a quick rundown.”  He says, listing off what all the boxes contain.  Harry tries to soak it up, he does, but this is a lot of information and he’s only been here for like an hour and fifteen minutes. 

Louis starts grabbing tons of bags of food and sacks of sauce and piles it all in Harry’s outstretched arms.  Harry’s arms start going numb from the below freezing temperature of not only the freezer they’re in, but also the freezing chicken and sauce that are covering his arms.

“It’s really important to not get locked in this freezer.”  Louis warns, putting what Harry hopes is the last bag of frozen food in his arms.  “Though there’s a knob here, the freezer is so cold it usually is frozen.  So if you lock yourself in, you have to just beat on this wall here, and hope we hear you.”  He says, pushing passed Harry and leading out of the freezer.  “Be sure to shut that door behind you.”  Louis says, watching Harry carefully walk out of the freezer.  He kicks the door shut, very proud of the fact he didn’t fall over. 

Louis is dropping food in fryers like there’s no tomorrow, and Harry is trying to soak in all the knowledge of which timers go to which food, and it’s just getting confusing. 

“Don’t worry about memorization, it comes with time.  There’s a list of all the timers and which food goes with which one in the red binder.”  Louis explains, pulling the red binder off the counter next to the fryer.  “Just make sure your putting the food on the right timer, or else it’ll be super burned, or way under cooked.  I mean, obviously.”  Louis says, smiling at his own obvious statement.  Harry is staring now, he knows he is, it’s totally fine.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to memorize all the stuff back here, it’s a lot.”  Harry says, chewing on his bottom lip.

“It’s really overwhelming, but trust me.  It’s fine!  We all get used to it pretty fast.  Just, please don’t quit.  We can hardly keep anyone around, and you seem like you’ll get along with everyone!”  Louis says, pulling some baskets up as timers started going off.

“Oh I need money, so I definitely can’t quit.  Is everyone here our age?  Everyone seems so young.  Are there adults working here?”  Harry asks, Louis laughs.

“Yea, most of them work really early, they’re probably all on lunch right now.  Lots of old ladies work the day shift.”  Louis explains.  “They hate hotside though, so they stick all the college boys over here.  Which brings us to today, I guess.”  Louis says, mixing some wings in some sauce, then pouring it into a pan.  “Sam and Liam are coming in to close in a few hours, they can help train you too.”

“Sam and Liam?”  Harry asked.

“Yea, Sam trained me and Liam is kinda new.  We’re all best friends though.  Best Deli Friends.  Friends for life you could say.”  Louis says, smiling.

“Now that’s what I like to hear!”  A loud voice yells from behind them.  Louis and Harry turn their heads.

“Oh, hey Niall.”  Louis says, turning back.

“I see you’ve met our fresh meat.  Literally.  He’s new to the fresh department.  He’s a freshmen.  He cuts meat and cheese.  He cooks meat.  Get it?”  Niall asks, laughing at his own joke.

“Yes Niall, unfortunately I do.  Did you need something?”  Louis asks as he starts taking the temperature of the Rotisserie birds.

“I just wanted to check on Harry here!  Also, make sure you’re doing your spark checks!  We can’t keep missing those.  I’ll have to write you up Tomlinson.”  He says.

“Niall, I am literally doing spark right now.  You can see me doing it.”  Louis says, his voice monotone.

“Oh, great!  You know I never wanna have to write you up Tommo.  We’re best friends!”  Niall says, grinning, Louis rolls his eyes.

“Niall, you are an assistant manager.  I think that’s a conflict of interest.”  Louis says, still not looking at Niall.

“I do what I want, Louis.  One of these days we’re going to go to a bar together.  You’re gonna get smashed.  And we are going to come up with a whole new management strategy for the Walmart Corporation.  It will be legendary.”  Niall says, looking off into the distance, Louis was still actively ignoring him.

“I’m sure we will Niall.  Now if you don’t mind, I need to be training Harry here to be able to run this Deli as well as I do.” Louis says, winking at Harry.  Harry felt his heart flutter a little, but I mean, whose wouldn’t?  Louis is a very attractive male specimen.

“Correct, you do!  Louis has been trained by the best!  You are in good hands Mr. Styles!”  Niall says, walking out of the Deli and towards the wall of assorted Juices.

“Trained by the best huh?”  Harry finds himself asking.

“You could say that.  There’s been some bad asses back here, and I’ve been trained by them.”  Louis says, smiling. 

“Well then, I for one, am very excited.”  Harry says.  

The excitement ends fast.  As the lunch rush starts, Louis is basically sprinting around the Deli trying to get the hotside in order, while Tanner is elbow deep in customers on the cold side.  Harry finds himself trying to float between the two sides, but he is literally the least helpful person in the Deli right now.

“Zayn I swear to fucking god, stop hiding in the back and help us!”  Louis yells as he opens the door to the back of the Deli.  Zayn forcibly wraps up his sandwiches and saunters up front.

“Where do you want me then, Louis?”  Zayn asks sarcastically, tying on his apron and fixing his hat.  “Since you are obviously running the show out here.”  He adds, rolling his eyes.

“Cold side, I’m keeping Styles.  And I wouldn’t have to run the show, if you’d stop hiding in the back all the time.”  Louis says, Harry smiles at the fact that Louis even wants him to stay at the hotside.

“Someone has to do back stock Louis, it’s not an option.”  Zayn says, wondering over to the coldside.  “I can help whoever’s next!”  He yells over the crowd that’s gotten quite loud. Louis smirks as he turns his head back to the hotcase.

“Not helping customers isn’t an option either!”  Louis sing songs as he starts putting food in little containers.  “Alright Harry, so we need 10 of these containers, two for each kind of chicken over there okay?  Try to put at least half a pound of each thing.  So like, two chicken strips, four wingdings, a scoop or so of the boneless, got it?”  Louis asks, gesturing towards the hotcase.  Harry feels himself nod quickly.  “Okay, great.  Then once you have them in containers, you have to take them across the deli to the farthest scale.  There are special numbers taped to the glass that you have to use.  We have 30 minutes to get all of this up front, so move quickly.  Take the cart.”  Louis says, pushing the yellow cart next to him in Harry’s direction.

“Sir yes sir!”  Harry says, grabbing containers and quickly filling them.  He’s trying so hard not to be clumsy right now, Louis is on a tight schedule and he really doesn’t want to be the reason they’re late.  The fryers seem to be going off every couple minutes, and Louis is moving with such ease and grace between refilling empty pans and dropping frozen food, it’s like he’s dancing. 

Once Harry has successfully filled and labeled all his containers, he makes his way back to the hotside with a smile on his face.  He sees that Louis has already put together their 8-piece chicken boxes, and has all the Rotisserie Chickens ready to go. 

“All we need to do is make cups for the popcorn chicken and shrimp and we’re good to go!”  He says, putting a tray of corndogs and eggrolls on Harry’s cart.  Harry nods and walks over to the fryers.  He looks at the baskets are filled with already cooked popcorn chicken and shrimp and is trying to decide which way is the best way to get the hot food into the little cups.

“So, do I use my hands, or?”  Harry asks, not looking away from the baskets.

“If you can stand the heat, yea.  I use my hands.”  Louis says, pulling popcorn chicken out of the basket and filling up cups.  Harry tries to copy him, but the shrimp was really hot.

“Fuck, that’s hot.  Shit.  I’m gonna use tongs.”  Harry says, turning and pulling the tons out of the pan.

“Can’t stand the heat, Harold?”  Louis asks.

“My hands are delicate.  They don’t take well to food parcels that are upwards of 300 degrees.  Sorry.”  Harry says sarcastically.  Louis grins.

“I can’t even believe you.  Just hurry up.”  He says, finishing his cups, he’s so fucking fast.  Harry starts grabbing shrimp with the tongs and quickly filling his cups up as Louis gets the cart ready to take up front.  “Look at us, 10 minutes early.  We make a good team, Harry.”  Louis says, pleased with himself.

“I guess we do.”  Harry says, smiling back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deli initiation commences.

And that’s how it goes for a while.  Management keeps scheduling Harry and Louis to work together so that Harry can be trained “properly”.  There were definitely some bumps along the way, and Louis only almost killed Harry like 10 times. 

_“Harry, I need you to get the price stickers for the Rotisserie Chickens.”  Louis states, pulling birds out of the oven and putting them in their respective containers._

_“Right. Stickers. Okay.”  Harry says, walking through the back door. Louis snaps his head up and furrows his brows.  Watching as Harry rifles through some storage containers._

_“What are you doing?”  Louis asks, Harry turns._

_“Uh, the stickers aren’t in here?”  Harry asks._

_“No.  You’ve gotten the stickers like a million times, how do you not know where they are?”  Louis asks, still pulling birds._

_“Right, I just forgot.”  Harry says, slowly walking out of the back and walking towards the side door.  He stops every couple feet and looks back at Louis, like he’s making sure he hasn’t passed them._

_“Are you kidding me Styles?  They’re out the side door.  Jesus.”  Louis said, getting frustrated._

_“Right!  I knew that!”  Harry says, fast walking quickly to get the stickers._

_“I’m going to kill him.”  Louis mutters to himself._

That was Harry’s second or third week on the job.  Louis thought he would get better, but it kept getting worse.

_“Alright Harry, I’m going to lunch.  I need you to get the birds in the oven okay?  It’s already been buttered and pre-heated.  You literally just have to put them in.  Like within the next 20 minutes, or we’re going to be off schedule for the rest of the day.”  Louis explained, Harry nodded._

_“I can do that.”  He said, looking kind of nervous._

_“Look, everything is already cooked, you just have to put the birds in the oven.  When I get back I’ll get hot case up front ready.  The only thing I need you to do is put the birds on.  That’s literally it.”  Louis said._

_“Okay, yea. Okay.”  Harry said, looking a little more relaxed._

_\--_

_Louis came back from lunch an hour later to find Harry putting birds in the oven._

_“Harold.”  Louis says sternly._

_“Lucifer.”  Harry responds, not looking at him._

_“Are those new birds, or the ones I told you to have in the oven 40 minutes ago?”  Louis asks, tying his apron behind him.  Harry stops mid motion, having a bird halfway in the oven and looks Louis right in the eye._

_“Shut up.”  He says, going back to putting birds on._

_“I’m going to kill him.”  Louis mutters under his breath._

Louis didn’t mind having shifts that ended before 11 pm, and he had gotten to know Harry pretty well.  They were kind of into the same music, and were both nerdy in all the same ways.  It was kind of refreshing to laugh as much as he has been lately.  Work doesn’t suck entirely too much when Harry is around.

_“Alright Lou, what kind of music are you into?”  Harry asks, boxing up an 8 piece._

_“I really don’t want to tell you.  It’s embarrassing.”  Louis says, putting popcorn chicken in a cup for a customer.  “Here ya go ma’am!  Have a great day!”  Louis says, flashing his brilliant smile._

_“No, please?  I’ll tell you mine, it’s probably more embarrassing than yours.”  Harry says._

_“Ugh, but don’t make fun of me okay?”  Louis asks, turning to face Harry, leaning his back up against the hot case._

_“I would never!”  Harry says, placing another filled 8 piece box on the counter._

_“Alright, so recently I’ve gotten really into a girl group.  I’m not proud of it, but their songs are fucking bangers.”  Louis says, his face completely serious._

_“What girl group?  It’s not 5H is it?”  Harry asks._

_“No, it’s Little Mix.”  Louis says, quickly and quietly._

_“Little Mix?  Hmmmm.  Mine is Justin Bieber.  So I think I win on the humiliation front.”  Harry says._

_“What?  You like Justin Bieber?  Gross.”  Louis says._

_“You’re obsessed with a Girl Group.”  Harry states.  “How does that one song go?  Take a sip form my secret potion, I’ll make you fall in loooove, for a smile that can’t be broken, one drop should be enoooough, boy you belong to me, I’ve got the recipe and it’s called black maaaaaagic.”  Harry sings._

_“Oh man, don’t go singing Little Mix to me.  You might take Sam’s spot as my favorite person.”  Louis jokes._

_“YOU KEEP AWAY FROM HIM, STYLES!”  Sam yells from across the deli._

_“I CAN’T HELP IT!  HIS ASS IS PULLING ME IN BY SHEER GRAVITATIONAL FORCE!”  Harry says, laughing._

_“Maybe you should learn some Little Mix songs, Sam.”  Louis says._

_“I’m not gonna do that.”  Sam says, over to Harry and Louis._

_“Well then it looks like imma steal your man.”  Harry says, winking._

The boys even explained to Harry their super-secret language for when they’re awkwardly getting hit on.  Louis only asked for Harry’s help once, and he doesn’t think he’s ever gonna ask for help ever again. 

_“Okay, so if one of us is getting hit on, but we don’t want to be, we just ask for help with mashed potatoes?”_

_“Yea, or if you see a particularly attractive human being.  Then whoever you ask for help, finds something for you to do so you can get away from the person flirting with you.  So if some girl is flirting with me, I obviously won’t be interested.”  Louis explained.  “So I’d be like, ‘Hey Harry, do you need help with your mashed potatoes?’ then you say something to get me away from the girl.”_

_“Oh, so just come up with something to get you away.  Got it.”  Harry says, nodding._

Louis thought Harry understood the plan, but he was very, very wrong.

_Louis was helping a girl on the hotside, when she started shamelessly flirting, and she wasn’t taking any hints._

_“So how long have you worked here?  I feel like I would have remembered your eyes.”  She says, smiling._

_“Uhm, almost a year I think.”  Louis says, trying not to look at her face as he fills her order._

_“There is no way you’ve been here this long and I’ve never seen you.  When do you get off work?”  She asks, obviously feeling confident._

_“Uh, Styles, I need help with my mashed potatoes.”  Louis says quickly.  Harry looks up and smiles.  He walks behind Louis and peers into the hot case._

_“It definitely seems like you do, babe.”  Harry said, pressing himself against Louis’ back.  “Maybe if you didn’t sell so much of it, then you wouldn’t have these problems.”  Harry said, leaning his face dangerously close to Louis’ ear.  Louis felt his entire body get hot._

_“Uh, yea, so can you help me out?”  Louis asked, handing the girls order over the case.  She was just staring at them quizzically._

_“I’ll help you out however I can hot stuff.”  Harry said, putting his hands on Louis’ hips and turning him around.  They were now face to face._

_“Uh, so if you could go get some mashed potatoes, I’ll clean out the pan.”  Louis says, feeling himself blush._

_“Mmm yea, meet me in the back babe.”  Harry says, winking at the girl still standing behind Louis._

_“O-okay” Louis stuttered.  Harry walked backwards, his eyes never leaving Louis until he walked through the door.  Louis spun around to see the girl still standing there._

_“Sorry, I didn’t know you had a uh..”  She started, her eyes flicking to the door Harry just walked through._

_“Yea well, looks like I need to get to the backroom.”  Louis says, smiling as he grabs the empty mashed potato pan and walks into the back.  When the door swings shut he finds Harry leaning against the cooler door.  “The fuck was that, Harry?”  Louis asks, rinsing out the pan._

_“I got her to stop flirting right?  That’s what I was supposed to do.”  He says, grinning._

_“You aren’t supposed to put on some show for her!  Jesus.”  Louis says, pushing Harry off the door to the fridge so he can grab more mashed potatoes._

_“I think she enjoyed it.”  Harry says, following Louis into the fridge.  “I enjoyed putting it on.”  He continues.  “Looks as if you didn’t hate it too much.”  He finishes as Louis turns back around, Harry’s eyes fixated on his crotch._

_“You’re gross.  My neck is sensitive and…ya know what?  I don’t owe you an explanation.  I’m never asking you for help again.”  Louis states, storming out of the fridge, mashed potatoes in hand._

That reaction had Louis really confused, but it has been a while since he’s had someone attractive act interested in him.  He doesn’t like Harry, he’s got this under control.  That was until Niall decided that Louis needed to start closing with Harry.

“Now Louis, I’ve been going easy on you two, seeing how well Harry was doing during his mid-shifts.  The hotside’s sales have been through the roof, and I appreciate that, but since I pulled you off closing, the cleaning has suffered.”  Niall sighs, putting his head in his hands.  “I just, I don’t understand how when you have 2 full hours to clean the deli, people are here until 3 am. People are getting overtime because of this, and I am getting in a lot of trouble from corporate.  I need your help, and Harry needs to be a closer.”  Niall explains. 

“Well, give me a good crew, and I’ll work any shift, you know that.”  Louis says.

“The main closers are gonna be you, Harry, Liam, Sam and Tanner” Niall explains, Louis’ heart skips a beat at Tanners name.  “Sarah will probably close too, along with the Jessica’s, but you boys will be my main closers.  This week I have Harry working with all of you individually so he really gets a feel for how to close this bitch down.”  Niall says, Louis nods. 

“Do I get three closers, or only two?”  Louis asks, looking at the schedules.

“Three for now, we’ll see how Harry works out.  Hopefully I’ll be able to drop it back to two eventually.” Niall says.  “Also, don’t forget to change your availability when summer hits please.  That way you aren’t always working till 11, and we can hit up some bars!”  Niall says enthusiastically.

“I rather enjoy my closing shifts, thanks.”  Louis says, handing Niall the schedules.  “Thanks for the heads up, I’ll let Harry know.”  He smiles at Niall.

“Louis, I swear, come out with me one time.  Bring Liam!”  Niall says, as Harry walks into the Deli to start his shift.

“I’m not going to ask Liam, Niall.  Let it go.  It’s not happening.”  Louis says, laughing.

“Right, don’t wanna upset your Deli Boyfriend.”  Niall says, winking at Harry.  Louis feels himself blush, and turns to see Harry smirking at him.

“Niall, do not start rumors back here.  I swear to God.”  Louis says, slapping Niall lightly.  “I’ll talk to Liam if that’ll get you off my back okay?  I’ll let you know when we’re both free.”  Louis says, Niall smiles so wide his face might split in half.

“That’s all I ask.  I really think that we could come up with a new management plan…”

“No, if we go to the bars, we’re getting trashed.  That’s it.  I’m finally 21, I’m not gonna be talking about work at a bar, Niall.”  Louis says.

“Fair enough.  Hit me up Tomlinson, I’m stoked!  It’s gonna be legendary!”  Niall says, walking out of the Deli.  Louis rolls his eyes and looks towards Harry.

“He is so ridiculous.  Hopefully that’ll keep him off my back for a while.”  Louis says.  “By the way, check your schedules, Niall changed them so that we could start closing.”  Louis says.

“Closing?”  Harry asks.  “I thought WalMart was open 24/7.”  He states, tying his apron and adjusting his hairnet.

“Are you serious?  You think people come back to the deli to get meat and cheese at 3AM or something?  The deli closes at 9, then you have until 11 to have the place completely closed down.”  Louis explains.

“That really doesn’t seem like enough time.”  Harry says, getting worried.

“Don’t freak out.  Niall scheduled 3 of us for now, so you’ll get some good training in.  The nights you and I close together, you’ll be learning how to close the front.  Whenever Tanner or Sam work, you’ll be learning how to do dishes.  Tanner is by far the fastest person on dishes, so he’ll be the best to learn from.”  Louis says, nodding.

“Okay, well if you guys have like, a favorite part to work, why do I have to learn both?  Just teach me one, and that’s the one I’ll do.”  Harry says, not wanting to fill his head with more instructions and rules.

“Okay, but what if you only learn to do dishes, and you close with Tanner?  Or only learn up front, and close with me?  I don’t do dishes Harold.  I just don’t.”  Louis states.  “You learn both, then pick which one you like best.  You’ll figure it out pretty quick.” 

“Alright, I guess.”  Harry says, his shoulders drooping.  He has thoroughly enjoyed having Louis to himself on the hotside for the past month or so.  They are both so good at it, that it’s not even a question as to where they will be placed when they work the same shift.  It also seems to Harry that he and Louis are sort of becoming best deli pals.  They take their lunches and breaks together when they can, and always talk about how they need to hangout outside of work, though it’s never happened.

The lunch shift goes by so quickly, as usual.  Harry and Louis are throwing chicken, sauce and salads all over the place, making a huge mess.  Harry tries to pick up after them, but they get so busy that he has to live in the chaos for a few hours until the closers show up.  It finally starts to slow down around 2PM, which means only an hour until they get to take their lunch breaks.  Harry starts sweeping the floor, still shocked at how much food they drop when they get busy.  He looks over at Louis who’s stirring the salads in the salad case, making everything look presentable again.  Then, the deli door is kicked open to reveal Liam.

“TONIGHT TOMMO!  TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!”  Liam screams, as he walks into the Deli to start his closing shift.

“Tonight is the night for what?”  Louis asks, looking at Harry, Harry shrugs.

“All night FIFA tournament.  You and I are both off tomorrow, and plus you and Harry are both here until 8.  So when you guys leave, I’ll give you the keys to my place, you can get snacks, Louis you have to buy alcohol, then Sam, Tanner and I will join once close is done!  Just…don’t mess up my apartment.  You know how I like things to stay in order.”  Liam says, walking over to the coldside.  Sam walks in a few minutes later.

“I swear Liam, Louis and I build a pillow fort one time, and you won’t ever let it go.”  Sam says, giving Louis an air high-five from the coldside.

“You rearranged all of my furniture, took all my blankets and pillows and hoarded the alcohol. THEN you wouldn’t even let anyone in.  It was ridiculous.”  Liam says, rolling his eyes.

“Liam is jealous of Sam and I’s bromance.”  Louis says, sending an exaggerated wink Sam’s way.  Sam blows a kiss at Louis and he pretends to catch it.

“Oh Louis and I go way back.  We’ve experienced Deli Heart Break together, Deli write ups, and all the Deli Hardships.”  Sam says, shaking his head and looking at the ground.

“What?”  Harry asks, looking back and forth between Louis and Sam.

“One of our best friends left after I’d been here about 9 months.  Then Sam and I skipped out on a close once, got written up and fake yelled at by Niall.”  Louis said, shrugging.

“Fake yelled at?”  Harry asks.

“It was the 4th of July I think?  And Sam and I wanted to see the fireworks.  So we clocked out without closing anything down, and went to a firework show.  We really did mean to come back, but we got drunk and didn’t.  So the morning shifters had to clean everything.  They were not pleased, Zayn didn’t talk to us for weeks.  Niall though, Niall thought it was funny.”  Louis says, laughing.

“Closers are certified bad asses.  Better believe it.”  Sam says.

“I SECOND THAT!”  Tanner says, as he walks through the door.  “We’re gonna close this bitch so hard tonight.”  He adds, fixing his hat and beard-net.

“We always do.”  Liam says.

“Yea, you guys are the bomb, it’s the closing trifecta.  The dream team.  Squad Goals.”  Louis says, being sarcastic.

“Aw Lou-Bear, you know we like it better when you’re here till 11 with us.”  Tanner says, rolling his eyes.  Louis felt himself blush at the nickname.

“You’re a dick, Tanner.”  Louis said, turning around and walking over to the Rotisserie.  “You’re just jealous that you won’t be out of here until 11 and I get to leave 3 hours before you.”  Harry walks towards the fryers and starts checking the times on what they put down, not really knowing how to add input to this conversation.

“I’m your favorite dick!”  He says, laughing.  “Well since there’s a million of us here-“

“There’s literally four of us.”  Harry says, Tanner continues.

“I’m going to go do back stock.  Holler if you need me.”  Tanner says, walking to the back of the Deli to get into the cooler.

“So…”  Harry starts, looking towards Louis.  “You and Tanner, huh?”  He asks, grinning.

“God, I wish.  That man.  All those tattoos.  His man bun.  Gah.  Alas, he’ll never love me back, unfortunately.”  Louis says, frowning.

“That’s ridiculous, how could he not love that ass of yours?”  Harry says, laughing.  Louis feels himself blush again.

“I have not given you permission to look at my ass.  Now you get to pay for all the alcohol I’m supposed to buy tonight. Douche.”  Louis says, grinning.

“Fine, only if I get to make all of your drinks though.”  Harry says, smirking.

“You’re like 12.  You know how to mix drinks?”  Louis asks.

“Woooow.  I’m definitely 18, don’t be rude.”  Harry says.  Is this flirting?  It could be flirting.  This is good.

\--

Harry and Louis’ shifts end at 8, and Louis is so ready for Liam’s party.

“Okay Lima, give me your apartment key, I’ll go load up on fatty foods, and awesome snacks, then Harold and I will go buy some alcohol.”  Louis says, holding his hand out for a key.  Liam pulls it out of his pocket.

“Alright, but seriously.  No pillow forts.  You and Sam need to be social, poor Harry here hasn’t even been inducted into the closers club yet.”  Liam says, smirking mischievously.  Oh god.

“That’s riiiight, oh man Harold.  You are in for it.  LET’S GO!”  Louis says, grabbing Harry’s wrist and pulling him onto the sales floor.  “We should probably load up on snacks here, so go grab a cart, and meet me in the chip aisle.”  Louis says, grinning. 

They end up purchasing over $100 worth of snacks and pop, it’s ridiculous how crazy Louis is going about this party. 

“You don’t understand how legendary the parties are when you don’t have to wake up early for work.  Do you have a sleeping bag Harold?  Or an air up mattress?  We’ll probably all be sleeping there again.”  Louis says as they wheel the cart out onto the parking lot.  Louis walks over to his compact SUV, and starts loading their various snackage into the back of his vehicle.

“Uhm, if we stop by my dorm I think I have a sleeping back in there.  I probably need to stock up on pillows and blankets as well, just in case.”  Harry says, helping Louis load the groceries.

“Aw, baby Harry still lives in the dorms.  That’s so cute.”  Louis says.

“I’m a freshmen.  I literally have to.”  Harry deadpans

“Whatever.  Let’s get some alcohol, then we’ll head to your place.  I’d love to see your room.  Do you have a Bieber poster on your wall?”  Louis asks, getting into the driver’s seat.

“No, I don’t.  Can you follow me in my car to my dorm?  That way I don’t have to leave my car here?  I can just catch a ride with one of you guys back to my place tomorrow.”  Harry says, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

“Yes Harry, I will drive you home tomorrow.  I guess we’ll go to your dorm first, then the liquor store.”  Louis says, closing his door and rolling down the window.  “Where are you parked?”

Louis follows Harry back to campus, and Harry pulls into a parking spot while Louis parks in a 20 minute spot close to the entrance. 

“Let’s see this dorm of yours!”  Louis says, seeming genuinely excited.

“You’re ridiculous.”  Harry states, pulling out his key card to get into the building.  He’s on the second floor, so they take the stairs and go down a number of hallways before the stop at room 219.  “Home sweet home.”  He says, unlocking the door, and a very pleasant scent hits Louis’ nose.  Harry turns on a series of Christmas lights that are all over his room, and Louis sees a lot of artwork and paintings covering the cement walls.

“Wow, it’s actually really cool looking in here.”  Louis says, taking in the space that Harry calls home.

“Thanks man!  I try to make it a chill room.  My roommate and I talked a lot about how we’d decorate before we moved in, so it went really well I think.  We try not to study in here or do homework, it kills the vibe of the room, ya know?  We come in here after hard tests or horrendous study sessions, and it’s instantly relaxing.  We do some yoga, listen to nature sounds and just hang out.  He’s great!”  Harry says, looking under his bed to find a sleeping bag.

“I did not peg you for a hippie, Harry.”  Louis says, sitting on the roommate’s bed.

“I wouldn’t call myself a hippie, I just need a space that is stress free, college is hard enough as it is.  We needed a place to escape to.  Might as well be our room.”  He said, pulling a sleeping bag out from under the bed, and starting to gather his blankets and pillows.

“You are so weird.  My dorm smelled of weed constantly, was super messy, and the walls were covered in posters.”  Louis explains.  “My roommate and I had similar music taste, so that worked out well.  We tried to align our schedules so that we were always up at the same time.  Kept us in check.  Then I got a one bedroom apartment, I like that a lot better.”  He says.

“Nice.  I really like my roommate.  I think we’re gonna try to stick together for this whole college experience.  I need something constant, and he seems to agree.”  Harry says, finally situating all this stuff.  “Alright, I think I’ve got everything, let’s go get some alcohol!”  Harry says, handing Louis some cash.  Louis can’t even believe that this long haired hippie is really standing in front of him.  He’s the weirdest human being Louis has ever met. 

“Sweet, you’ll have to wait in the car though, they’ll try to card you if you come in.  Like, even if you just help me carry the alcohol, they’ll card you.  It’s dumb.”  Louis says, rolling his eyes as Harry leads him out of the room.  Why is this weird person so attractive?  Louis would have never talked to him if they didn’t work together at WalMart.  Why does WalMart have to do this to him?  Put weird attractive people in his life.  It’s not fair.

“Oh wait!”  He says, dropping his stuff outside his door and rushing back inside.  He comes back out 5 minutes later.  “Had to leave Nick a note, or else he’d worry about me.”  Harry says, smiling.

“Why didn’t you just text him?”  Louis asks.

“That’s not very personable is it?  Plus, he likes when I leave him notes on the mirror!”  Harry says, grinning so hard his dimples turn into craters.  This kid. 

\--

Louis quickly picks up a lot of different kinds of alcohol before Harry realizes how much money he actually handed over.  He got a couple 12 packs of beer, some bottles of vodka, and some fruity drinks.  As he quickly heads back to his vehicle with his bags of treasures he grinned at Harry.

“We are getting so trashed tonight.  Thank god for closing shifts.”  Louis says.  Harry beams back, excited to finally be considered part of the oh so exclusive bro group at the WalMart Deli.  “Thank God I don’t work tomorrow, do you?” Louis asks.

“We’ve worked the last 5 days in a row together, do you think I work tomorrow?  We literally work the exact same schedule.”  Harry says, kind of shocked Louis hasn’t picked up on that yet.

“We’ve had the same schedule for the last 6 weeks?  Why are they babying you so much?  I had to fend for myself so many times, then you come in and get a full time baby sitter.  What the hell.”  Louis complains as he turns his car on.

“I’m just glad that I don’t have class or work tomorrow, Mondays are the greatest.”  Harry says, he can practically hear Louis rolling his eyes.

\--

Once Harry and Louis arrive at Liam’s apartment, Louis quickly starts laying out all the food and alcohol they bought. 

“Harold, what is the time?”  Louis asks, opening one of the Smirnoff’s he bought.

“It’s almost 9:30.”  Harry says, eyeing Louis’ layout.

“Okay, I’ll start hooking up the game system, please start drinking Harry.  I need your fun levels to go up.”  Louis says, walking over to Liam’s big screen TV.

“Are you saying I’m not fun?”  Harry asks, grabbing a can of beer and pulling the tab.

“Well, at work your fun sometimes.”  Louis says, shrugging as he gets the Xbox set up.

“Rude.  Also, once the boys get here, you have to let me make all your drinks.  That was the deal.”  Harry said, grinning.

“You could start now if you want, I’m almost done with this.”  He says, lifting up his almost empty Smirnoff. 

“Sir yes sir!  I’ll be right back!”  Harry says, quickly walking back to the kitchen and grabbing the bottle of Vodka.

\--

It’s not even 11 yet and Harry and Louis are smashed.  Harry makes strong drinks, and Louis was not about to look like a wimp in front of a mere child.  He gulped down his drinks with minimal wincing, his throat stinging and his eyes begging to release tears.

_“Damn Lou, if I knew you went that hard I would have put less Dr. Pepper in it.”  Harry had said, as Louis drained his second cup of Harry’s concoction._

_“You better keep up Styles.”  Louis said, winking._

_“Challenge accepted.”  Harry replied._

The boys kept drinking Harry’s magic mix, not feeling the weight of the alcohol until about 10:45.  They were slumped on the couch next to each other, empty cups in front of them, staring ahead.  Louis could see Harry in his peripheral vision, and he looks even more attractive.  It could just be the alcohol, but Louis is starting to realize how much Harry flirt with him.  Why is this string bean of a human so confident?  He has way too long of hair for a boy, he’s tall and lanky and clumsy, he’s horrible at telling jokes and Louis finds it all so endearing.  This is bull shit.

“We should drink water or something.  We’re going to ruin game night for everyone.”  Louis said slowly, carefully choosing his words, making sure they come out right.

“You’re right.”  Harry said, even slower.  He attempted to get up but fell to the ground as soon as he picked his foot up off the ground to walk.  “My legs don’t work.”  He mumbled into the carpet, Louis started laughing hysterically.

“I swear I saw that happen in slow motion.”  He said, holding his stomach.  Is this what love feels like?  Laughing at other people blatantly failing at normal everyday activities? Woah. Love?  Calm the fuck down Louis.

“You try!”  Harry said, face still in the carpet.  Louis got up, gripping the arm of the couch for support.  He made his way passed Harry, still gripping to any stable surface he could find.  He felt something around his ankle, then the next thing he knew his face was in the carpet.

“The fuck!” Louis exclaimed, laughing.

“Couldn’t let you beat me.”  Harry said, Louis looked over his shoulder to see Harry’s face near his knees.

“You’re a dick.  Help me uuuuup.”  Louis said, struggling to push himself off the floor.  He felt Harry crawl up next to him, their faces now next to each other.  “You’re the worst.  I’m going to call in when we close together.”  Louis pouted, giving up on moving.

“That is literally the worst thing you could do to me.”  Harry said, frowning.

“You tripped me.  I am not in a state to be tripped!”  Louis complained

“You got me drunk in Liam’s apartment, and the party hasn’t even started yet!”  Harry complained back.

“Okay one, you made the drinks buddy.”  Louis said, weakly holding up one finger.  “2, you got me drunk, dickweed.”  He said, holding up 2 fingers.  “3, your hair looks extremely soft.”  He said, smiling then laughing at himself.

“I’m glad you can still count, Lou.”  Harry said, taking a few deep breaths.  “I am going to get up and get us water if it’s the last thing I ever do.”  He said, forcing himself up off the floor.  Louis laid there and closed his eyes.

Harry eventually made it to the kitchen, turned on the sink faucet, and started drinking water straight from the tap.  He didn’t even realize how much he wanted water until the first gulp, it was delicious.  He felt himself get a little steadier, so he made his way to a cabinet and found a good sized cup and filled it with water.  He stuck his head back under the faucet and drank more water before he made his venture back to Louis.  When he arrived Louis looked dead. He assumed he was asleep, but he definitely looked dead.

“Wake up Lou, you gotta drink this.  The boys will be back soon and they’re gonna be so pissed if you’re passed out.”  Harry said, nudging Louis with his foot.

“Mph.”  Louis replied, his eyes not opening.  Harry sighed.

“I will pour this on you.  Get. Up.”  Harry said, kicking Louis a little harder.

“Just pour it in my mouth, Harry.”  Louis said, just as the front door opened.

“What is he pouring where?!?!”  Liam exclaimed, laughing.

“Oh damn, we walked in on sexy time.”  Tanner said, walking in behind Liam.

“No, no he just meant this water.” Harry said quickly, turning around to show the boys the cup.  Sam trailed in last.

“If anyone is pouring anything in Louis’ mouth, it’s gonna be me.”  Sam stated, walking to Harry and grabbing the cup from his hand.  “Wake up sleepy head!”  Sam said, pouring the water on Louis’ face.

“FUCK!  SHIT!  SAM!”  Louis yelled, his hands running up his face and through his hair.

“Say my name, babe.”  Sam said, laughing.

“I hate all of you.”  Louis said, sitting up slowly.  He scanned the room to see Liam, Harry and Tanner talking as Harry mixed their drinks.  “Don’t let him mix your drinks!  They fuck you up!”  Louis said, finally standing and walking over to the boys.  He pushed himself between Liam and Tanner.  He was drunk, he can openly flirt with Tanner.

“That’s the plan isn’t it?  We work at WalMart, fuck it.  Fuck me up, Harry!”  Tanner said, Louis drifted his eyes towards Harry who was presenting Liam his cup.

“For you, oh fearless one.”  He said.  He then turned to Tanner.  “For you, one of many stories.”  He said, bowing his head.  Tanner rolled his eyes and started drinking.

“You’re stupid.  I’m not letting you make me anything else.”  Louis said, pushing past Harry and grabbing a Smirnoff and the bag of Salt and Vinegar chips.

“That wasn’t the deal, sir.”  Harry said, stepping in front of Louis and replacing the Smirnoff in his hand with a red cup.

“I don’t want to die, Harold.”  Louis said, glaring at the cup.  Harry leaned his face closer to Louis, his lips against Louis’ ear.  Why? Why are his lips there?  Why is his body so close?  Why is this boy so sure of himself?  Louis needs to get himself together.

“I’d never let you die.”  Harry said, smiling as he pulled back and lifting the cup up to Louis’ lips. 

“I still hate you.”  Louis mumbled, before drinking.  Harry led them back to where the Xbox was set up in Liam’s living room.

“Okay, so we’re gonna to 2 by 2’s.  Who’s on what team?”  Liam asked, holding up his four controllers.

“Liam and Harry, Me and Sam.”  Louis said quickly.

“Let’s do this thing!”  Harry said, at the same time Liam complained “Are you kidding me?  That’s not even fair!”

“How is that not fair, Liam?”  Louis said, sitting on the couch next to Sam.  “You both have drunk people as your teammates.”

“But you and Sam are basically unstoppable.”  Liam pouted, sitting on the recliner.  Harry took his spot next to Louis.

“You don’t know, I could have mad FIFA skills.”  Harry says, focusing on the screen.

Harry definitely didn’t have mad FIFA skills, but Louis tormenting him through the entire game definitely didn’t make it any easier.

“Lou, I swear to God, if you hit my controller out of my hands one more time.”  Harry says, retrieving his controller from the floor and continuing to play.

“You guys are down so many points it literally doesn’t even matter.”  Louis said, shoving against Harry again.

“That doesn’t mean you have to be a dick, Tomlinson.”  Harry says, shoving Louis into Sam.

“Dick!”  Louis screams, putting his controller down and jumping on Harry.  “Don’t shove me!”  He says, yanking the controller from Harry’s hands and starts slapping him. 

“You wanna fight me, Lou?  Really?  You’re like a munchkin.”  Harry says, pushing Louis off of him as the other boys gasp.

“You did not just call him short.”  Tanner says, his mouth full of chips, his eyes wide.

“What?  He is short.”  Harry says slowly, his eyes sliding from Tanner to Louis.

“You’re dead.”  Louis says, jumping back on Harry and pushing him to the ground.  They topple over and Louis finds himself on top of Harry, his knees bracketing Harry’s hips.

“I’m not afraid of you and your tiny fists.”  Harry says, laughing as Louis slaps at his arms.

“Stop calling me tiny!”  Louis says, trying to punch Harry’s shoulder.

“YOU ARE TINY!”  Harry says, flipping them so he’s on top of Louis.  He leans down, his lips against Louis’ ear again.  “It’s okay to be tiny, ya know.”  He says quietly, Louis shivered as Harry’s hands runs up his sides.  “You’re fucking perfect Louis.  You’re so hot.”  He said, Louis can still smell the alcohol on his breath.  He’s fully aware they probably won’t remember this tomorrow, but he can feel his whole body getting hot.  He should definitely be trying so much harder to fight against this, but it's like his body isn't listening to his brain.  Harry is just so attractive, and he smells good, and he has soft hair and big hands...and lips...nice lips...

“Stop it.”  Louis says quietly.

“Why?  Does it make you feel good?”  Harry asks, licking the shell of Louis’ ear then leans back.  They both look up to see all the boys frozen, staring at them.

"Uh, are we interrupting something?"  Tanner asks, smirking.  Harry retaliates quickly, his voice getting sharp.

“And if you shove me again, I am going call in whenever I close with you.”  Harry says, getting up and walking towards the kitchen to make another drink.

“Better not shove him again Lou.  I swear, if he calls in on me.”  Liam says, unpausing his game and starts playing again with Sam.  Tanner had picked up a controller at some point.  Louis is still lying on the floor, his mouth open, shocked that none of them are saying anything.  He scrambles to get up and quickly walks over to Harry.

“What the fuck man?”  Louis yell whispers.  Harry turns and loops his arms around Louis’ waist.

“Is there a problem, dear?”  Harry asks, spinning them so Louis is pinned against the counter.  Louis glances towards the living room and sees that none of the boys are paying any attention to them.

“Don’t call me dear.  Why are you being like this?”  Louis asks, his fingers carefully tracing up Harry’s sides.

“Like what?”  Harry asks, leaning in close to Louis’ face.

“Why are you acting interested in me?”  Louis asks, looking up at Harry, their faces centimeters apart.

“Maybe I am interested in you.  Maybe it’s just the alcohol.  Maybe it’s Maybelline.”  Harry says, Louis could almost feel his lips, but in the next second Harry was gone.  Walking back over to the other boys with drinks in hand.

“CHEERS MAN!”  Tanner says, taking the drink from Harry. 

“The fuck.”  Louis says under his breath, grabbing a Smirnoff and walking back to the living room.  “Alright guys, we need to initiate Harry into the Deli Closing Club.  DCC for short, Harold.”  Louis says, smiling.

“Oh man, this is so much fun.” Sam says, sitting up.  “The last couple people they hired haven’t lasted long enough to get initiated.  So this is going to be amazing!”  Sam says, clasping his hands together.

“Alright, you guys all remember the rules right?”  Liam asks.  Everyone nods, Harry’s eyes are flicking from person to person, probably trying to decide if he should be scared.  He should be.

“What do I have to do?”  Harry asks.

“Well, first we need to blind you.”  Louis says, grinning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated :) Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Group Chats are always a good idea.

“Payno, where’s the blindfold?” 

“In the bathroom, with the rest of the stuff.  Under the sink, in a box.”  Liam says.  “I’m pretty sure the last time we did this it was to me, now that I’m thinking of it.”  Liam says.  “Why did I keep all the stuff?  I hated when this happened to me…” He says as Louis happily walks to the bathroom to find the box of torture.

“Because we did it here.”  Tanner says, finishing of the drink Harry made him.  “You were the best initiation I was ever a part of.  And I’ve been doing this for 7 years.”  Tanner said. 

“Should I be scared or?”  Harry asks.

“You should make me another drink before this starts!” Tanner responds, handing his cup back to Harry.

“Alright, but you guys better go easy on me.”  Harry says, taking Tanners cup and heading back to the kitchen.  He starts mixing Tanners drink when he sees Louis walk back into the living room with a small box.  He took in a deep breath and walked back out with Tanners drink.  “Tanner, your drink.”  He says, handing it to him.

“Damn, I owe you Styles.  Your drinks are to die for.”  Tanner says, taking a big swig of it. Harry smiles at him then turns to Louis.

“So what are we doing, exactly?”  Harry asks, walking over to the box to try and peer inside.

“NO PEEKING!”  Louis yells, slapping Harry’s arm.  “Put on this blindfold.”  He says, handing Harry a pink bandana.  Harry places it over his eyes and ties it behind his head.  “Okay, so sit on this couch here.”  Louis says, grabbing his arm and leading him to the couch.  “Give us a couple minutes, but drink both of these.”  Louis says, putting two bottles in Harry’s hands.

“Why?” Harry asks, holding the bottles when he feels something being wrapped around his hands.  “What’s going on?”  He asks.

“Edward 40 hands.  We’re taping these bottles to your hands, and you can’t take them off until you finish them.  That’s part 1.”  Louis explains, wrapping the tape around Harry’s hands.

“Okay…”  He says, scrunching his nose since he can’t itch it.

“Alright, so you need to drink these now.”  Louis says, Harry can hear him take the caps of.  “They aren’t as big as they’re supposed to be.  It’s just some Smirnoff, so it shouldn’t take you long to finish it.”  Louis explains.  Harry starts chugging the one of the drinks.

“Liam, is the bowl ready yet?”  Sam asks, digging through the box Louis brought out.  Harry could hear some objects clanging against one another.

“My masterpiece is almost complete.  Don’t rush me.”  Liam says, mixing the contents in a giant green bowl. 

“I have the trinkets.  So let’s move.”  Sam says, walking over to Liam and dropping his objects in the bowl.

“Alright Harold, so once you’re finished with your other bottle, we’re going to place a bowl in front of you and you have to bob for the 5 objects that Sam placed in there.”  Louis says.  “You have to find all 5 objects, and for every one you can’t find you have to take a shot of straight vodka.”

“Alright, sounds easy enough.”  Harry says as he finishes his second bottle off.

“Excellent. Payno, he’s ready!”  Louis yells.  “You’ll get your hands back after the bobbing is complete.”  Liam sets the bowl in front of Harry on the coffee table.  “Dig in!”  Louis yells, pushing Harrys face into the bowl.  Harry starts moving his head from side to side, and Louis takes he hand off, incase Harry needs to come up for air.  When his head finally lifts from the bowl his spits 2 of the trinkets out of his mouth.

“The FUCK is in this bowl?  Shit!”  Harry says, spitting more.

“Payno?”  Louis asks.

“Well!  Mayonnaise, jello, whipped cream, butter, spray cheese, and pickle juice!”  Liam says, grinning.

“This is disgusting.”  Harry says, his face covered in the mixture.

“Well, 3 more trinkets and you are done!  Or take 3 shots of vodka…”  Louis says, patting Harry on the back.

“I’ll take the 3 shots.  Fuck this.”  Harry says. 

“Better than Liam.  He didn’t get any of the trinkets!”  Louis says, walking to the kitchen to get some washcloths.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think anyone has ever got any of the trinkets.  They usually end up giving up before they start.”  Tanner said, getting the taped bottles off of Harry’s hands.

“Are you serious?  Everyone just takes the shots?  I could have said no to putting my face in that?”  Harry asks as he takes off the blindfold.

“Well, we don’t usually slam people’s faces into the bowl.  Lewis.”  Tanner says.

“I got excited, we haven’t done this in a while!”  Louis says, smiling.  “Plus, IIIII never got initiated.  Because you all suck.”  Louis says.

“We just loved you so much we knew we wouldn’t have to initiate you!”  Sam said, pulling Louis in for a hug.

“Get off me, you’re drunk!”  Louis says, laughing.  “Here’s a washcloth, Styles!”  Louis says, tossing it to him since Sam won’t let him go.

“Oh, you think this washcloth is enough to fix this?”  Harry asks.

“I mean, it’s a big washcloth.”  Louis says, shoving Sam off of him.

“Oh okay, yea you’re probably right.”  Harry says, launching himself at Louis and rubbing the mixture all over Louis face, hair and clothes.

“WHAT THE FUCK HARRY?!?!”  Louis shouts as he trying to push Harry off of him.

“YOU DESERVE THIS!”  Harry yells, pushing them to the floor.  He nuzzles his face into Louis’ neck, getting the mayonnaise mixture all over.

“I HATE YOU SO MUCH!”  Louis says, laughing, snaking his hands up Harry’s shirt and twisting his nipples.  “GET OFF OF MEEEE!” Louis yells, pinching at Harry’s sides and stomach as well.

“Touch my body, baby.”  Harry whispers in his ear, then gets up.  “I hate all of you.  Liam, I’m taking a shower.”  Harry announces, and walks out of the living room.

“I think he took that well.”  Tanner said, shrugging.

\--

Once Harry came back from his shower, he was a lot more relaxed.  The shower took him a while, but it was probably because he was still a little drunk.  The rest of the night Harry and Louis just kept teasing and flirting with each other, it seemed so endless.  The more they drank, the more they felt the need to be in physical contact with one another in some way.  They were sitting next to each other on the sofa, and everyone decided it was time to watch a movie.  They thought a good, light hearted comedy would help lull everyone to sleep.  Liam was asleep in his chair, Niall on the couch, Tanner on the floor, and Sam had snuck off to sleep in Liam’s bed. 

“I think we’re the last ones up.”  Harry whispered, Louis nodded and suddenly realized just how close they were.

“Yea, uh, I think we are.”  He said, rubbing his forehead.  The alcohol was starting to wear off, since he didn’t give in to his body wanting to sleep.

“Where are we gonna sleep?  I mean, you’re real tiny, so you can have the love seat.  I can sleep on the floor.”  Harry said, not making any moves to get up.

“I’m 5 foot 9.  I am not tiny.”  Louis states, matter of factly.

“Yea, okay.”  Harry said, turning towards Louis and poking his nose.  “You’re for sure 5 foot 9.  Definitely.”  He says, giggling.

“Don’t be a twat.”  Louis says, smiling, poking Harry’s dimple.  “Why are your dimples so deep?  I could take shots out of those.”  Louis says, poking his finger into Harry’s dimple.

“I would gladly let you do that.  We should do that right now actually.”  Harry said, moving to get up.

“Right now?  It’s like 3AM?”  Louis says, getting up to follow Harry.

“No time like the present!  Plus, we need more alcohol to fall asleep.”  He says, grabbing the last bottle of vodka.  “I’m going to lay on this table, you pour the vodka.  We can do body shots.”  Harry says, taking his shirt off and lying down on the table.

“I was under the impression I was taking shots out of your dimples.”  Louis says, laughing.

“I mean, you can if you want.  Or you can take shots off my abs.  It’s whatever.”  Harry says, smirking.

“Gross.”  Louis says, grinning as Harry climbs on the counter.  He lays flat on his back and Louis pours Vodka into his belly button.  “Let’s fucking go.”

It starts out as innocently as it can, Louis is trying to not seem to eager, slurping alcohol off Harry’s body, but how could he not?  You don’t realize how fit someone is until they take off the apron and collared polo that WalMart forces them to wear.  Louis is sucking the alcohol of Harry’s skin like his life depends on it, lapping it out of his belly button when Harry groans.

“Jesus fuck Lou.  Shit.”  He says, his hands finding their way into Louis’ hair.  Louis carefully slides his left hand down Harry’s side, sliding it up onto his abs, then down to his jeans.  He continues sucking Harry’s skin as his hand slowly makes its way to Harry’s crotch.   He can feel that Harry is hard, he can feel his dick pulsating through his jeans.  “Oh my god, yesssss” Harry hisses, his hips bucking up into Louis palm.  Louis smirks and continues to suck love bites onto Harry’s abdomen.

“Yea, babe?”  Louis asks, his mouth moving to the skin right above the top of Harry’s jeans.

“ _Please_ ” Harry says, his fingers tugging at Louis’ hair.

“Please what?”  Louis asks, his fingers finding the button of Harry’s jeans, his tongue dancing across Harry’s skin.

“Anything, _anything Louis”_ Harry begs, his breathing getting erratic as Louis closes in on his destination.  He pops the button of Harry’s jeans and slides a hand underneath the material.  He palms at Harry over his underwear and can really feel just how big he is.

“Fuck, Harry.”  Louis says, he feels himself hardening in his already too tight pants.  “We can’t do this here.  They could wake up.”  He says, his hand still down Harry’s pants.

“They’re sleeping.  Fuck, d-don’t leave me hanging.  P-please Louis.  Do something.”  He says, his hips bucking up trying to gain friction.

“Okay, okay just stay quiet.”  Louis says, sucking another bruise into Harry’s pale skin.  He slips his hand into Harry’s underwear and grabs ahold of his hardened cock.  There was already pre-come gathering at the tip, so Louis just used that as lube to make this as painless as possible.  His grip was hard, and his pumping was quick, trying to get Harry of quickly and quietly, but Harry was having none of that.

“God Louis, yes.  Please babe, FUCK!”  He says, panting and groaning.  Louis feels himself flush as his dick starts pulsating in his own pants.  He is not going to come like this that is pathetic.  “nngh, Louis, you feel so good.  I knew you’d feel so good.”  Harry says, strings of words coming out of his mouth quicker than his brain can really comprehend exactly what he’s saying.

“You’ve been thinking about me touching you?”  Louis asks, moving his right hand up to play with Harry’s nipples.

“FUCK!”  Harry says, Louis jolts a little, but continues.  “Hell yes I have, god you so fucking hot.  Prancing around me all the time at work, swaying your fucking sinful hips.”  Harry says, his fingers yanking at Louis’ hair again.  “Shit Lou, fuck I’m gonna….I’m g-gonna”  Harry says, his hips moving relentlessly to chase the friction.

“Come for me babe, fuck, please come for me.”  Louis says, rutting against the table Harry is laying on.  Harry let’s out this high pitched moan as Louis feels his hand get covered in come.  Louis follows quickly, his hips working against the counter in time with his pumps.

“Shit Louis, fuck.  Please let me get you off.”  Harry says, reaching for Louis’ pants.

“I-uh, already did.”  Louis says, looking down as his withdrawals his hand from Harry’s pants.

“You’re so fucking hot.”  Harry says, smirking as he pulls Louis on top of him on the counter.

\--

Louis wakes up with a massive headache, he can hear his heart beat in his ears, and opening his eyes seems like it should be illegal. 

“uuuuugh.”  Louis groans, rubbing the palms of his hands against his closed eyelids.

“You said it.”  Louis freezes, who is in this bed next to him?  Whose bed is this?  Where even is he?  He slowly opens one eye to see his laying in Liam’s living room.  Okay, so he’s not in a bed.  He looks down to see his on a couple of blankets and a sleeping bag.  Alright, easily mistaken for a bed.  He turns his head to see Harry, his eyes still closed.

“Oh, hey.”  Louis says, sighing in relief as he closes his eyes again.  “Thank god we have today off, huh?  What time is it?”  Louis asks, stretching his body.

“No idea, I don’t know where my phone is.  Fuuuuuck.”  Harry says, Louis turns his head to see him stretching, his eyes quickly scan his body and his heart stops as his eyes reach Harry’s abdomen. 

“Uh…”  Louis says, his brain feels broken.  He is getting little flashbacks of what all happened last night.  He doesn’t know a lot, but he is for sure that he’s the one that gave Harry all those love bites.

“Fuck we had way too much to drink last night.”  Harry said, Louis dragging his eyes away from his abdomen to see Harry’s face.

“Yea, definitely a lot to drink.”  Louis agrees.

“I mean, I think you definitely had more than I did, those body shots did wonders, huh?”  Harry said, a hand trailing down his chest and rubbing his abdomen.  “Gonna take a while for these guys to fade, huh?”  He asks, peering down at them.

“I am so sorry Harry, I was super drunk.  I should have been way more responsible.”  Louis started.

“Nah man, it’s cool!  We were both a little drunk, and we had fun!  Plus it was my idea.  Seriously, no big deal.”  Harry says, smiling.  No big deal as in, they didn’t have to talk about this?  Should they talk about it? 

“Is working together going to be weird now?”  Louis asked, not sure how to go about this.

“Only awkward if you make it awkward.”  Harry says, smiling as he closes his eyes and tries to go back to sleep.  Well, this is going way easier than expected.  Louis should be ecstatic that Harry isn’t being clingy, but he feels sort of lost.  He’s used to being the one to push people away, and not wanting to get involved.  Now there’s Harry, super attractive, amazing kissing Harry.  Whatever.

“Right.  When did you want me to take you home?”  Louis asks, glancing around to see Tanner asleep on the couch.

“When I sleep off this headache.”  Harry says.

“That could take forever, and I want to go home to my own bed, Styles.”  Louis says, getting up.

“God you’re needy.  I don’t want to go back to my stupid dorm yet.”  Harry said, not getting up.

“Then get someone else to drive you home.” Louis says.  Alright, he’s a little bitter.  So what?

“Or you could take me to your place.”  Harry says, opening one eyes to look at Louis.

“Why would I do that?”  Louis asks, walking around the place to find his shoes and keys.

“Because we’re best deli pals.  Plus, you probably have some headache medicine and awesome hangover food.  The dorms don’t supply such things.”  Harry said, finally sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“Be ready to go in 10 minutes.”  Louis says, huffing.

\--

They left Liam’s house after they found all their belongings, the car ride was kind of quiet, but definitely not for long.

“So, should we listen to the radio?”  Harry asked, leaning forward to flip through some radio stations.  He settled for a station playing a song Louis has never heard before.

“This isn’t top 40.”  Louis says, keeping his eyes on the road.

“You need to expand your music taste.”  Harry says, settling back in his seat and closing his eyes.  “This is underappreciated music.”  Louis sighs and continues his drive home.  He watches Harry out of his peripherals, not wanting to directly look at him.  It’s hard to look at him and not remember last night, but Harry obviously isn’t fazed by it.  He probably does this stuff all the time.  Casual hook ups.  Louis can do casual.  He just has to make sure Harry always initiates it.  That way he doesn’t seem desperate or clingy. It’s a genius plan really.

The radio plays 5 or 6 shitty indie songs before they’re finally at Louis’ hole in the wall apartment.

“Home sweet home, Styles.  Get up!”  Louis sing songs.  He opens his door as Harry stretches and yawns.

“I am so ready to continue that nap.”  He says, his voice low and rough, it sends shivers down Louis’ spine.

“You and me both.  I’m gonna get some tea, do you want any?”  Louis asks as he swipes his key card to get through the front door of his complex. 

“Sure, tea sounds amazing.”  Harry says, following him up 2 flights of stairs.

“Alright, you probably aren’t aware, but this apartment complex is old as shit, and the apartments are super shitty.  But it’s super cheap and it’s all mine so.  No rude comments.”  Louis says as he jams his key into the knob, jiggles it 3 times, and slowly unlocks the door.  He then pulls the key out quickly, and turns the knob then forces the door open by slamming his shoulder into it.  “Ah, there we are.”  He says, walking forward.  Harry slowly follows, taking in Louis’ apartment.

He wasn’t lying, this apartment is nowhere near as nice as Liam’s was.  The difference is that Louis’ place looks so cozy.  He has mismatching furniture that looks super cozy.  He has area rugs, and Knick knacks and posters and art work.  Harry smiles as he takes it all in.

“I’m not even lying, I really like this.”  He says, falling onto Louis’ large armchair.

“I tried to make it homey.  It’s so nice to have this whole place to myself.  Even though it’s super tiny and not worth shit.”  He smiles, putting a kettle on the oven.  “I don’t have people over here often, so count yourself lucky.”

“Anytime I spend with you makes me feel lucky boo bear.”  Harry says, grinning as he watches Louis’ shoulders slump, inevitably rolling his eyes even though his back is to Harry.

“You’re stupid.”  Louis says, pulling his phone out.  “I’m gonna text everyone and let them know we’re alive.  We need a deli group chat.  I’m gonna make one right now.”

 _Hey guys, Harry and I left to continue sleeping off our hangovers in our own respectable beds_ -Louis

 _Respectable beds?  I’m at your apartment…_ -Harry

“Harry what the fuck?  This is a group chat!  God Dammit.”  Louis says, sighing as he walks to his room to plug his phone in.

“I was just telling the truth Lou.  Jeeze.  I didn’t realize I was your dirty secret.”  Harry says, the smirk evidence in his voice.

 _I hate that you guys are off today.  But I’m so here for this group chat_ -Sam

 _WAIT HARRY IS AT YOUR SACRED APARTMENT?  NONE OF US HAVE BEEN THERE?!?!_ ­- Liam

“Oh man, Liam is pissed.”  Harry says, laughing.

 _Lima, calm the fuck down.  It’s a shitty place.  He basically forced me to bring him here._ -Louis

 _I didn’t force him.  I asked nicely and he was more than willing to oblige._ -Harry

 _I think I speak for everyone when I say we hate both of you._ -Tanner

“I hate our friends.”  Louis says, walking back out of him room as the kettle was ready.

“I really like working with you guys.”  Harry said, shrugging as he is searching for an outlet for his phone.

“Oh, the only outlet that works out here is the one that the lamp is plugged into.  But it only works if the window is slightly cracked open.  Here.”  Louis says, opening the window a crack.  He takes Harry’s charger and plugs it into the wall.  “There we are!”  He says, smiling.

“That has to be some form of a fire hazard.”  Harry says.

“It probably is.  But it works.”  Louis says, turning back towards his kitchen and pouring two cups of tea.  “Alright, so a little tea, then a lot of napping.  The couch is pretty comfy, so you can sleep there.  I’ll bring out my extra pillows and blankets.”  He says, sipping his tea as he walks down the hallway to a closed door.  He opens it and Harry sees tons of blankets and pillows jammed into the small space, no organization to them at all.

“If you like, folded the blankets I think you’d be able to fit more in there.”  Harry says, as Louis pulls out a big fluffy blanket and a few pillows.

“I’m really not worried about it.”  Louis says, placing the stuff on the couch. “Your tea is on the counter, there’s honey and sugar in the cabinet, and milk in the fridge.  Make yourself at home.  I’m going to sleep.”  He says, waving half-heartedly as he walks back to his room.

Louis gets settled and finishes his tea, he feels comfy and warm and starts scrolling through ifunny on his phone to help him fall asleep.  He didn’t even make in through all the new features before he slowly fell into a deep hangover induced sleep.

“Louis?”  Louis’ eye lids flew open.

“Yes? What? Hello?  Yes?”  Louis rushes out, sitting up quickly, relieved to find out his headache is gone.

“Hey, sorry to scare you?”  Harry says, standing in front of Louis’ bed.

“No, curly, you’re fine.  What’s up? What time is it?  Do you need to go back?”  Louis asks, his mind trying to catch up to his surroundings.  He’s feeling around for his phone, but can’t find it.

“No, no, I was just wondering if I could sleep with you?  I can’t get comfortable on your couch, and I can’t get the blinds shut enough on your windows so that there’s no sun shining through..”  Harry starts, his list just keeps going. Louis is trying to pay attention, honestly he is, but he just wants to sleep.

“Yea sure, sleep here. That’s fine.”  He says, laying back down and pulling the blankets over his head.

“Thanks so much Lou!”  Harry says happily, jumping into Louis’ bed.

“mmph.”  Louis responds, letting sleep slowly take him over again.  He’s on the edge of passing out when he feels arms around his waist.  He’s then being pulled back into Harry’s chest.  “Why?”  Louis asks, not putting up any struggle at all.

“I like to cuddle.  It helps me sleep.”  Harry answers quietly, pulling Louis as close to his body as possible.

“You cuddle with your roommate?”  Louis asks.

“Why?”  Harry whispers against Louis’ ear.  “Would it make you jealous if I did?” 

“No.” Louis states, staying as calm as possible and ignoring the bubbling heat of hatred pooling in his stomach.  His breath hitches as he feels Harry’s nose against the junction of his neck and shoulder, shivering as goosebumps start forming.

“You sure?”  Harry asks, lightly dragging his lips across the skin.

“Yeah…” Louis responds airily, trying to catch his breath.  Louis feels Harry’s tongue dart out of his mouth, licking at Louis’ neck before he starts sucking on the skin.  “Harry…”  Louis says quietly, trying to seem like he’s against this.

“If you want me to stop, just say so.”  Harry says, continuing to bite and suck and Louis’ neck.  His hands started working their way up Louis’ shirt, feeling his overheated skin.  “Do you want me to stop?”  Harry whispers, Louis moves his head to give Harry more access to his neck.  “That’s what I thought.”  He said, biting down a little harder.

“Fuck..”  Louis says, his toes curling as he feels goosebumps rise all over his skin.  He felt Harry’s hips start to grind against his ass, Louis arm coming up to tangle his fingers in Harry’s hair.  “Yes…”  He hisses, grinding backwards into Harry.

“There we go, babe.  Let me hear you.”  He says, his hand trailing down to snake under the waistband of Louis’ pants and underwear.

“Oh god.”  Louis said, his body arching into the touch.

“Yea baby, you feel so good.  Can’t stop thinking about last night.”  Harry says in Louis’ ear, his hand wrapping around Louis’ cock.  “So mad I didn’t get to touch you.”  He says, biting at Louis’ neck again.

“Mmm you were so hot.”  Louis says, his hips moving into Harry’s hand.

“Louis.”  Harry says, but Louis just keeps moving his hips, trying to get more friction.  “Louis.”  Harry says again, more stern.  Louis whines and starts trying to grind backwards.  “LOUIS” Louis head snaps up and he sees Harry standing in front of him.

“What the fuck?”  Louis asks, turning his head to see there isn’t a Harry clone behind him.  Had he been dreaming?

“Hey sorry, it’s like 2:30, I just woke up but I think I should probably get back to my dorm.”  He says, stretching. 

“Yea, sure.  Give me a second.”  Louis says, rolling around in the bed, stretching and trying to wake up.  “How long were we sleeping?”  He asked, sitting up.

“A few hours.  I feel better though.  Do you work tomorrow night?  It’s my first closing shift.”  Harry says as Louis stands and stretches more. 

“I think so?  I don’t remember, I’ll check.”  Louis said, grabbing his phone to see he had a lot of missed messages from the group chat he made.  “This group chat was a horrible idea.”  Louis mutters, opening the WalMart app to check his schedule.  “Uh, yea it looks like I close tomorrow.”  Louis says, looking through his messages.

“Oh good, I was really nervous.  I wonder who else closes.”  Harry says.

“I have no idea.  Let’s get you home.”  Louis said, trying to push away all those images from his VERY real dream.

“Uh yea, I’m sure Nick is worried.”  Harry says.

“You left him a note.  What is he, your mom?”  Louis asks, grabbing his jacket and walking out of his bedroom.  “Do you have all your stuff?”  He asks while slipping his shoes on.

“He just worries sometimes.  And yea, I have everything.”  He says, slipping his shoes on too.

“Let’s go.”  Louis says, unlocking the door, jiggling the knob a few times then forcing himself out.

“You really need to get that looked at.”  Harry says, studying the door.

“Yea, probably.”  Louis says, walking ahead of Harry and down the stairs.

“Are you okay?”  Harry asks, catching up to him.

“I’m great, just ready to get you home.  I think I’ve kept you long enough.”  Louis says, opening the front door of the complex.

“Oh, okay.”  Harry says, they approach Louis’ car and get in.  Louis starts driving towards campus, still trying to not think about all the things dream Harry had said to him.  He wasn’t going to look at Harry, he wasn’t. He just needs a break from him, and work will be fine tomorrow. 

“Here we are, curly.”  Louis says, parking in front of Harry’s dorms.

“Thanks so much Lou.  I had a ton of fun!  We all need to hang out again soon, okay?”  Harry says, grabbing all his stuff after he stepped out of Louis’ car. 

“Well, that’s what the group chat is for.  Planning.”  Louis says.

“Right, have you read the messages on there?  They crack me up.”  Harry says, grinning.

“No, I haven’t really looked at them.  I think all the boys are working, so it shouldn’t be that great.”  He says, Harry is just standing outside Louis’ car with all his stuff.  Just standing there, looking super attractive, and talking to Louis.

“You should look at them.  They’re hilarious.  Oh!  And Lou?”  Harry asks.

“Yea?”  Louis replies as he unlocks his phone and pulls up the group chat.

“Next time you have a wet dream about me, try not to moan my name so loudly.”  Harry says, Louis’ head snaps up and his eyes meet Harry’s.

“Uhm, what?”  Louis questions, frozen.

“You heard me.”  Harry says, hoisting his bag over his shoulder.  “See you tomorrow night, Lou.”  Harry says, winking as he turns and shuts the door to Louis’ car.

Fuck.

Louis finally gets a chance to read through all the group messages as soon as he parked back at his apartment complex, but now he’s regretting making the group chat in the first place.

_Harry, has he tried to murder you yet?-Tanner_

_No, but I think he’s having a sex dream.-Harry_

_ABOUT WHAT?!?!-Liam_

_It better be about me.-Sam_

_Why do we care?  Harry, just leave!-Tanner_

_We work at WalMart.  Tommo’s fantasy sex life is interesting.  INVESTIGATE STYLES-Sam_

_What am I supposed to do?  Go in his room?-Harry_

_How do you know he’s even having a sex dream?-Liam_

_He’s moaning super loud, like…I certainly hope this a dream.  He’s not being subtle at all if he’s awake-Harry_

_Burst through the door!-Sam_

_DO IT!-Sam_

_NOW-Sam_

_I’M GOING CALM DOWN-Harry_

_What happened?-Sam_

_Was he dreaming?-Sam_

_Was it about me?-Sam_

_HARRY ANSWER ME-Sam_

So many messages from Sam just yelling at Harry, Louis is mortified.

_It wasn’t a sex dream.  Get to work.  I hate all of you.-Louis_

_Don’t lie, it was about me-Sam_

_Whatever helps you close faster-Louis_

_Sorry to disappoint you sam, but it was definitely about me.-Harry_

_LOUIS HOW COULD YOU?!?-Sam_

Louis exited out of the group chat and sighed.  Dammit Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated :)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are much appreciated! Let me know what you guys think!


End file.
